Improvement in cigar-machines



MULLER & MAJER.

Cigar Machine.

Patented Feb. 19, 1861.

UNITED STATES Parent tries.

H. MULLER AND O. MAJEIh OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNORS TO THEMSELVES AND FRITZ KASEFANG, ASSIGNORS TO THEMSELVES AND LOUIS BEAUCHE,

OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT IN CIGAR-MACHINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 3E1 ,5118, dated February 19, 1861.

To aZZ whom, it may concern:

7 Be it known that we, HERMAN MULLER and CHARLES MAJER, of the city, county, and State of New York, haveinvented a new and useful ligar-Making Machine; and we do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this specification, in which- Figure l is an isometrical projection of the table of the said machine. Fig. 2 is a vertical cross-section of the part of the machine for performing the first part of the operation of cigar'making termed filling or coremaking. Fig. 3 is a vertical cross-section of the part of the machine for performing the second part of the operation of cigar-makingnamely, the rollingof the outer leaf around the cigar. Fig. 4: is a horizontal projection of the part of the machine represented in Fig. 3.

The same letters of reference mark the same parts in all these figures, and Figs. 2, 3, 4. are drawn on an enlarged scale.

The nature of ourinvention consists in constructing the apparatus designed for the filling process of rollers and of a concave surface in such a manner that the leaf-tobacco placed in the hollow of these parts will be rolled up and form a proper core by the revolution of the rollers, as hereinafter described; and it also consists in constructing the apparatus designed for the rolling of the outer leafaround the core of a concave surface of rollers, of a fork, and of a plate in such a manner that when the core is placed in the hollow formed by the concave surface and the rollers, and when the strip of the outer leaf is held between the hollow and the fork the said strip of the outer leaf will be rolled or wound around the core by the rotation of the rollers and by the passing of the plate over the cigar, as hereinafter described.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use our invention, we will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

In the annexed drawings, A represents the table or plate.

B represents the apparatus for filling or core-making; G, the apparatus for rolling of the outer leaf around the cigar.

D is the upper fluted roller of the fillingmachine with an outer cover, Y. This roller is not fixed in its position, but maybe turned, as indicated by the red lines in Fig. 2, so as to admit of an opening in which the tobacco is inserted. The lower portion of this apparatus consists of a fixed concave surface, G, and two side rollers, E and F. The springcatches H H are placed on the apparatus for the purpose of holding down the roller D and its cover Y when the same is closed.

The apparatus for rolling up the outer leaf consists of a thin metallic plate, J, containing the cigar-shaped opening K for the re ception of the cigar.

L is the fork with its two prongs, the upper ends of which unite and form a hollow cigar-tip, the said fork pivoted to the table, so that it may be laid fiat over the cigarshaped opening K. The spring Z is attached to it for the purpose of lifting it from the horizontal position into a vertical one when released from the catch a, which holds it during the rolling operation.

M is a plate covered in front with indiarubber or some other soft substance, on. Underneath the said plate and parallel with it is fixed a toothed rack, t, which, when the said plate is in a horizontal position, gears into the pinion it, placed on the principal axis 6 of the moving machinery, and thereby imparts to the plate M a straight sliding motion, the same being attached to the straight rod Q, secured to the table by two standards, as shown in Fig. 1. An elastic band, S, is fixed on one end to the hook T, (or to T,) and on the other end to the plate M. \Vhen the pinion a is in motion and the tack It gearing into it, the plate M will be moved to the right toward a, the elastic/band S will be strained, and when the plate M arrives at the opposite end it touches the regulator or, which throws the clutches on the axis 0 out of gear, thereby stops the further progress of the plate M, and then the same is thrown upward in its vertical position, and is then pulled back to its starting-point by the elastic band S, as the straining'of the said band has then ceased. The small rollers V V are placed on the table for the purpose of sustaining the said plate in its bacco of the usual size is then inserted into the opening, so that the outside leaf of the bunch XV projects from the rollers. The roller Dis then closed, the cover Y of the same being held down by the catches H. The rollers D, E, and F are then rotated in the direction shown by the red arrows in Fig. 2, taking hold of the to bacco within and rolling it up and forming a core completely, the knives r 9, attached to the ends of the cover Y, cutting the bunch on each side to the proper length The catch H is then drawn back, the apparatus is opened, and the finished core is removed therefrom. The core is then inserted into the opening K, after laying around the same on its lower end the strip X of the outer leaf intended for the finishing part of the cigar, the rest of the said strip lying loosely on the table. The fork L is then turned down and its tip secured by the catch a. The outer leaf, X, is now held between the fork L and the horizontal plate J.

The plate M is then turned downward and laid horizontally over the fork L, as in Figs. 3 and 4, and the clutches of the axis 0 are put in gear.

The moving machinery will then cause the plate M to move and slide horizontally over the core. It will rotate the rollers N and O in the direction indicated by the red arrows in Fig. 3, and thereby the outer leaf, X, will be rolled around the core.

It will be observed that the rollers N and 0 project somewhat into the hollow K, and that the sliding line of the plate M is not at right angles with the axes of the rollers N or 0, but

forms therewith an angle of about one hundred and three degrees, which causes the cigar to be shoved toward the tip of the fork, and asa consequence the tip of the cigar is shaped and turned solid 011 the tip of the core. Vhen the movement of the plate M is completed, the clutches are thrown out of gear, the plate is turned upward, and the india-rubber band draws the plate back again to its startingpoint. All the cigars thus made are rightwinded cigars. If left-winded cigars are to be made, the plate J is placed in aposition, as in Fig. 4, and the plate M is placed and fasttened to the right, the regulator n to the left, when the leaves will be rolledin the direction opposite to that shown in Fig. 3.

On comparing the movements of the rollers and of the plateM, as indicated in Fig. 3,with the rolling of the cigars by hand, it will be found that both movements are identical, except that by hand the cigar assumes a rolling and a sliding motion, whereas by this apparatus the rollers N and O substitute a rolling motion only for the same.

We deem it proper to state that the principal difference between the construction of our cigar-making machine and the cigar-making machines hitherto made consists in avoiding in our machine the use of endless bands or their equivalents in the rolling motion given to the bunches of tobacco and to the cores,and the advantages thereby attained are greater perfection of the movements, a better forniation of the tips of the cigars, a greater uniformity in rolling up of the cores and the outer leaves, a greater speed, increased simplicity of construction, and the capability of making right-winded cigars and left-winded cigars by the same machine.

The rollers herein used may be made of metal, bone, hard rubber, or any similar hard substance. The concave surfaces P and G are also formed of metal or of some other hard substance, and are fixed as permanently to their respective rollers as the free rotation of the same will admit.

The frame of the machine is not shown on the drawings, noris the manner of imparting motion from the prime mover to the various parts of the same fully described, as it is not claimed as part of ourinvention. It is, more over, in general use in lathes and similar rotating machines, and is sufficiently indicated in the drawings and specification for all practical purposes. The motion may be imparted by a foot-treadle, by handle, by a strap, band,

or similar means.

hat we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

l. The fixed concave surface G, in combination with the rollers E and F, closing-roller D, and knives r r, the whole being constructed and operated in the manner and for the purpose substantially as described.

2. The fixed concave surface 1,- in combination with the two side rollers, N and O, the

fork L, and the sliding plate M, the whole be- 

